Role of Neuroticism and Perceived Stress on Quality of Life among Patients with Dry Eye Disease

Abstract BackgroundPatients with dry eye disease (DED) experience stress that may subsequently affect their quality of life (QOL). Little is known whether neuroticism, a personality trait sensitive to stress and hassle, has an impact on stress that is related to DED and QOL. This study aimed to examine such a relationship.MethodsA hospital-based, cross-sectional observational study was conducted. All participants completed the Dry Eye-Related Quality-of-Life Score (DEQS) questionnaire, a 5-level EQ-5D (EQ-5D-5L), Neuroticism Inventory (NI), and 10-Item Perceived Stress Scale (PSS). Hierarchical linear regression was applied to determine the predictive effect of the independent variables. ResultsIn all, 100 participants had mean age of 50.91±14.3 years, and females totaled 89.0%. The mean scores of the QOL related to DED, EQ5D, NI, and PSS were 45.44 ±22.0, 0.78± 0.21, 31.67± 9.1, and 18.53± 6.1, respectively. Hierarchical linear regression analysis showed that ocular symptoms were the strongest predictor for QOL either assessed by DEQS or EQ-5D, and its effect was lessened when perceived stress and neuroticism were added to the model. The final model explained up to 30-39% variance of the QOL, compared with 13-32% by ocular symptoms alone. QOL of the patients with DED, not only related to eye symptoms but general stress in life. More than that, neuroticism was found to be a strong predictor contributing to the QOL among patients with DED. More attention should be paid to these psychological factors when assessing the QOL of this population.